The rise of 'AI Slop': How low-quality AI videos are flooding YouTube feeds worldwide

CNBCTV18.com ^ | December 28, 2025, 3:34:27 PM | Asmita Pant

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Kapwing reports up to 33% of YouTube feeds are low-quality AI content. Spain and South Korea top in subscribers and views, sparking global concern.

Once a fringe term, "AI slop" has become part of the global vocabulary. In 2025, both The Economist and Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary highlighted the phrase as shorthand for the surge of low-quality, auto-generated content flooding the internet — from shallow articles and spammy videos to algorithmic filler produced at scale. That growing frustration has data to back it up.

A new report by Kapwing suggests that between 21% and 33% of YouTube feeds, as of October 2025, may consist of AI slop or closely related "brainrot" videos, underlining how rapidly this form of content has spread across platforms worldwide.

While AI-generated video has found legitimate applications in filmmaking, advertising and education, with film schools and major brands experimenting with the technology, the report suggests that a parallel ecosystem has emerged. In this space, creators use prompt-based tools to mass-produce content at scale, flooding platforms with repetitive, low-quality visuals that prioritise engagement over originality.

Kapwing defines AI slop as careless, low-quality content generated through automated applications and distributed to attract views or influence opinion. Brainrot, a closely related category, refers to compulsive, nonsensical videos that corrode attention and comprehension through endless repetition and spectacle.

To measure how widespread this phenomenon has become, Kapwing examined the top 100 trending YouTube channels in every country, identifying which among them primarily produced AI-generated slop.

The researchers then analysed view counts, subscriber numbers and estimated revenue using data from Social Blade. To simulate the experience of a new user, they also created a fresh YouTube account and tracked the first 500 Shorts that appeared in the feed.

The findings reveal striking geographical patterns.

Spain emerged as the country with the largest combined subscriber base for trending AI...

[packrat35]

There are several good ones I watch. I like WW2 history since I was young.

[Impala64ssa]

There’s still nothing new under the Sun. People have always had to exercise discrimination over propaganda in every area of life.
I remember way back in the 70's in college. One day I was walking past the campus rec center where a couple of stooges from CPUSA were handing out copies of the Daily Worker. I took one and looked through it just for laughs and sure enough, one page had a large photo of police officers in broad daylight wearing nazi armbands. Even as a young skull full of mush I already knew how full of you know what the communist party is. Newspaper photos can easily be doctored long before Photoshop, by anyone with a basic knowledge of photography.

[dfwgator]

For me, it started with “The World At War”.

[StAnDeliver]

It has destroyed YouTube. Schadenfreude.

[Impala64ssa]

Month ago the vids went stupid crappy
Someone put up a vid of digitally remastered photos of various NYC neighbors from the 50's and 60's. Quite a few cars in many of those photos were altered by the AI, like a Cadillac with a Buick front end, or what at first glance looked like a mid sixties Chevy Malibu actually resembled an Australian Holden from that era. What's the purpose of such nonsensical alterations like that?

[Jamestown1630]

Because they can.

[JusPasenThru]

AI will destroy society as we know it and bring about unemployment and poverty which will fuel social unrest and overthrow of Governments.

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

[Jamestown1630]

It’s very like the fear that people expressed over the Industrial Revolution.

Some of them are now memorialized in the term ‘Luddite’.

[dpetty121263]

Will be interesting to watch and take part in..

[cuz1961]

I was watching a vid about a WW2 sniper

Black and white photo of a rifle with an m1 charging handle, a mosin nagant stock with a m16 pistol grip and a scope that was suspended mid air and unattached 1/2 inch above the receiver!

AI isn’t very intelligent.

[SunkenCiv]

No need for AI slop as long as we have Kamala.

• Kamala Harris Offers Some Sweet and Cheeky Dating Advice, Depending on 'What Phase You're In' [12/28/2025]
• Petition to the Indiana General Assembly Regarding Mandatory Constitutional Self-assessment for Candidates for Public Office [12/28/2025]
• New! Improved! Creating a table of ARMY Veterans to honor those who served in the US ARMY. TO ALL ARMY VETERANS, THANK YOU! [12/28/2025]
• Study: AI-Powered Job Interviews Are Causing Havoc for Applicants *and* Employers [12/28/2025]

[John S Mosby]

Vs. the plastic cowboys from hell-o, much prefer
the Bluegrass— The Cleverlys

Miles the Bass player is supposed to be blind and always facing the wrong way. Competent musicians as opposed to disgusting wildlife tunes about Wynona!

Blue Highway btw is without question modern and yet traditional Bluegrass. Phenomenal writers, friends with Mark Knopfler (if you’re curious). I don’t think the two badgers are the same. Red Badger explains their name in their bio. In the day a electronic spook quality control inspector so to speak.

Here ya go, Cleverlys, live: Owner of a Lonely Heart (Yes cover).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc4_JJWqMQ&list=RDytc4_JJWqMQ&start_radio=1